Peery Gives Canyon Another Run

The Canyon High football team welcomed back Chris Peery on Friday, five months after the state’s sophomore player of the year left the program for the second time in his brief but exceptional career.

Peery, who quit the team for two days last fall, drifted from the program in the off-season because of personal problems that left him academically ineligible. The school removed him from classes after repeated delinquency problems, placing him in a special program designed to deal with troubled students.

“I thought he was closer to going to prison than to playing football again,” Coach Harry Welch said Friday. “It was real clear that he was having bad times.”

Peery agreed, saying his decision to return to football was an effort to redirect his life.

“With everything that happened to me last year I saw my life headed in the wrong direction,” he said. “I wondered what I was going to do after high school.”

Peery earned a 2.0 grade-point average in five classes last spring to regain his eligibility and told Welch he was committed to the program for two more seasons.

He rejoins his teammates today in the Hart passing league tournament, although he has not worked out with the team. He weighs 238 pounds, more than 30 pounds heavier than last season. Peery rushed for 1,290 yards last season, helping Canyon to a 10-3 record. He was a Times All-Valley selection, the Golden League’s Back of the Year, and Cal-Hi’s Sophomore Player of the Year.